Credit

Citing “shortcomings” with the technology, Australia’s ANZ Banking Group Ltd. has halted development of a microSD iPhone case designed to turn a smartphone into a payment device.

The United Kingdom’s Office of Fair Trading wants the region’s passenger-travel companies to alter what it deems misleading debit and credit card surcharging practices.

Lenders’ tighter credit card underwriting rules to control risk during the recession put pressure on consumers seeking new credit lines, but the restrictions also are driving criminals who prey on new accounts to find new hunting grounds.

In an exclusive deal for MasterCard Worldwide, Indigo Books & Music Inc.’s plans to deploy terminals that accept the card brand’s PayPass contactless payments in all its stores marks the first such development for a retailer of its kind.

Card companies have used celebrities and fun characters in their brand advertising for years to hawk their products as spokespeople, but integrating the celebrity brand into a card product may be better strategically for card-program success, one observer contends.

Mobile payments in India received a major boost on June 27 when Nokia India Pvt. Ltd., the Indian arm of the Finnish mobile handset maker, announced it would offer its Mobile Money service on all Nokia devices.

S1 Corp. and Fundtech Ltd. have not competed directly, but they sold to many of the same customers. As such, their announced merger would substantially boost the power of each company’s sales team as they pursue new markets and deepen existing customer relationships.

Bankcard issuers are likely to face steep challenges in getting credit card spending back on track after the economic downturn, as various economic indicators suggest consumers are more cautious than ever about their card spending, one analyst contends.

Another company has announced a mobile payments and marketing app in what some are calling the Wild West of mobile payments.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is making it easier for holders of its cobranded Amazon Visa credit card to redeem rewards points for purchases.

A San Francisco-based startup called Card.io is offering software that enables cell-phone cameras to scan credit card information, thus moving ecommerce from the Web to mobile phones and creating a new product for ISOs to sell to merchants.

Small and midsize businesses now have an alternative to traditional card-payment processing channels through a new mobile-payment processing service rolled out earlier this month by Australia’s Commonwealth Bank Ltd.

LIC Cards, a subsidiary of Life Insurance Corp. of India, in July plans to launch a co-branded credit card with Axis Bank Ltd. to help increase market share, a spokesperson from the card issuer tells PaymentsSource.

Two payment transaction software and service providers, S1 and Fundtech, have agreed to a "merger of equals" today in a deal valued at $700 million. Upon closing of the transaction, S1 shareholders will own approximately 55 percent and Fundtech shareholders approximately 45 percent of the combined company. The combined company will be headquartered at S1's headquarters in Atlanta and will be called Fundtech.

A San Francisco-based startup called Card.io is offering software that enables cell-phone cameras to scan credit card information, thus moving ecommerce from the Web to mobile.

China Everbright Bank Ltd. has chosen Fair Isaac Corp., commonly known as FICO, to provide a customer-management system for its credit card business, a sign of increased efforts to bring better processes to the local card industry.

Most high school students believe credit card companies often entice consumers into shouldering more debt than they can handle, new survey data released June 23 suggest.

As consumers communicate more using social-media networks, credit card companies see the sites as new vehicles to tout their products and services.

Global technology vendor Serverside Group filed suit in federal court June 23 claiming dozens of credit union groups and banks are infringing on its patents for card customization technology.

More consumers plan to use credit card rewards points to offset summer-travel costs compared with last year, and hotels are the most-popular option among cardholders redeeming points for travel, suggest new survey data released June 23.